Why do the Mccanns get away with it?

Whats the difference between this and what the Mccanns did?


A four-year-old boy walked half a mile from his Edinburgh home and crossed a busy road while the woman looking after him went shopping, a court has heard.

The child was spotted by a driver, who saw the boy alone at the side of the 30mph dual carriageway in Edinburgh.

At Edinburgh Sheriff Court, Marie Watson, 33, admitted neglecting the boy by leaving him on 4 July without adult supervision.

Sheriff Kenneth Maciver called for background reports before sentencing.

He said would also decide later whether to refer the case to a childrens' hearing.

Watson, who was responsible for the boy at the time, was arrested after reaching home 90 minutes after the boy was discovered.

Fiscal depute Kate Mulligan, prosecuting, said the child was spotted by a couple driving in Silverknowes Road in the city about 1430 BST on 4 July.

"They became concerned when they saw the child walking alone on the side of the road," the prosecutor said.

"They stopped the vehicle and alerted another driver then attempted to speak to the boy and ask if he was lost.

"He continued walking."

Ms Mulligan said the driver's wife had got out of the car and walked behind the child while they waited for police to arrive.

Slightly agitated

"She managed to stop and calm the child down as he had become slightly agitated by people asking questions of him."

When police arrived, the boy told them he had come from the Muirhouse Park area.

"He was able to take officers back to his home address," Ms Mulligan said.

"In order to get to where he was found, he would have had to cross Muirhouse Parkway.

"There were a number of vehicles on the parkway at that time," she added.

Watson told police she had left the boy in the care of his eight-year-old brother while she went to the shops.

She said the brothers had been out playing with friends but had become separated and the younger child wandered off.

Watson is expected to be sentenced next month.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7698092.stm

This child obviously suffered and the mother is being punished for her negligence. Madeleine suffering isnt taken into consideration as her parents are far too important.

You might well ask MsTaken.
Even if the Mccanns had not launched this barrage of lies and media manipulation. Even if Madeleine had not disappeared, I have always argued that they are guilty of neglect. From the beginning, I KNEW that had I still been working and had been the duty social worker that night and received a call that 3 children under 4 were alone in an apartment, a call which turned out to be true, those 3 children would have been taken into emergency care and it would have been up to the parents to convince the magistrates that they were sufficiently fit and responsible parents to have the children returned to them. It didn't matter if the family were from some grotty council estate or the middle class suburbs. It's true that the law does not provide an age at which children can be left alone, and there are grey areas, especially when it involves a child of say 13 or 14 years of age, but for 3 children under 4 years there is absolutely NO grey area.
One of the reasons I stick at this case is because I actually feel guilty about the children I have taken into care when I have found them home alone, especially when the mum is some single teenager struggling on benefits and living in poverty who just wanted a night out with her mates. A mum who was still a kid herself and who would have been over the moon to have had one tenth the family support and material advantages of the Mccanns.
It is the sheer selfishness and injustice of this which makes me so angry and determined to keep going, and that is without thinking of little Madeleine and what might have happened to her, and why the parents and their friends and powerful allies need to lie in the way they all have.


Wel, that's me stirred up for the day and I have only just got out of bed. :Boxer:

justagrannynow wrote:You might well ask MsTaken.
Even if the Mccanns had not launched this barrage of lies and media manipulation. Even if Madeleine had not disappeared, I have always argued that they are guilty of neglect. From the beginning, I KNEW that had I still been working and had been the duty social worker that night and received a call that 3 children under 4 were alone in an apartment, a call which turned out to be true, those 3 children would have been taken into emergency care and it would have been up to the parents to convince the magistrates that they were sufficiently fit and responsible parents to have the children returned to them. It didn't matter if the family were from some grotty council estate or the middle class suburbs. It's true that the law does not provide an age at which children can be left alone, and there are grey areas, especially when it involves a child of say 13 or 14 years of age, but for 3 children under 4 years there is absolutely NO grey area.
One of the reasons I stick at this case is because I actually feel guilty about the children I have taken into care when I have found them home alone, especially when the mum is some single teenager struggling on benefits and living in poverty who just wanted a night out with her mates. A mum who was still a kid herself and who would have been over the moon to have had one tenth the family support and material advantages of the Mccanns.
It is the sheer selfishness and injustice of this which makes me so angry and determined to keep going, and that is without thinking of little Madeleine and what might have happened to her, and why the parents and their friends and powerful allies need to lie in the way they all have.


Wel, that's me stirred up for the day and I have only just got out of bed. :Boxer:

Well said Justagrannynow... that says it all.

justagrannynow wrote:You might well ask MsTaken.
Even if the Mccanns had not launched this barrage of lies and media manipulation. Even if Madeleine had not disappeared, I have always argued that they are guilty of neglect. From the beginning, I KNEW that had I still been working and had been the duty social worker that night and received a call that 3 children under 4 were alone in an apartment, a call which turned out to be true, those 3 children would have been taken into emergency care and it would have been up to the parents to convince the magistrates that they were sufficiently fit and responsible parents to have the children returned to them. It didn't matter if the family were from some grotty council estate or the middle class suburbs. It's true that the law does not provide an age at which children can be left alone, and there are grey areas, especially when it involves a child of say 13 or 14 years of age, but for 3 children under 4 years there is absolutely NO grey area.
One of the reasons I stick at this case is because I actually feel guilty about the children I have taken into care when I have found them home alone, especially when the mum is some single teenager struggling on benefits and living in poverty who just wanted a night out with her mates. A mum who was still a kid herself and who would have been over the moon to have had one tenth the family support and material advantages of the Mccanns.
It is the sheer selfishness and injustice of this which makes me so angry and determined to keep going, and that is without thinking of little Madeleine and what might have happened to her, and why the parents and their friends and powerful allies need to lie in the way they all have.


Wel, that's me stirred up for the day and I have only just got out of bed. :Boxer:

Excellently put granny!!!

As usual, a great post justagran. and also to Mstaken for posting the original story

Allstar wrote:This child obviously suffered and the mother is being punished for her negligence. Madeleine suffering isnt taken into consideration as her parents are far too important.

Its worse for Maddy as she still hasnt been found and buried.

justagrannynow wrote:You might well ask MsTaken.
Even if the Mccanns had not launched this barrage of lies and media manipulation. Even if Madeleine had not disappeared, I have always argued that they are guilty of neglect. From the beginning, I KNEW that had I still been working and had been the duty social worker that night and received a call that 3 children under 4 were alone in an apartment, a call which turned out to be true, those 3 children would have been taken into emergency care and it would have been up to the parents to convince the magistrates that they were sufficiently fit and responsible parents to have the children returned to them. It didn't matter if the family were from some grotty council estate or the middle class suburbs. It's true that the law does not provide an age at which children can be left alone, and there are grey areas, especially when it involves a child of say 13 or 14 years of age, but for 3 children under 4 years there is absolutely NO grey area.
One of the reasons I stick at this case is because I actually feel guilty about the children I have taken into care when I have found them home alone, especially when the mum is some single teenager struggling on benefits and living in poverty who just wanted a night out with her mates. A mum who was still a kid herself and who would have been over the moon to have had one tenth the family support and material advantages of the Mccanns.
It is the sheer selfishness and injustice of this which makes me so angry and determined to keep going, and that is without thinking of little Madeleine and what might have happened to her, and why the parents and their friends and powerful allies need to lie in the way they all have.


Wel, that's me stirred up for the day and I have only just got out of bed. :Boxer:

Hi justagrannynow, So are you a social worker then?

justagrannynow wrote:You might well ask MsTaken.
Even if the Mccanns had not launched this barrage of lies and media manipulation. Even if Madeleine had not disappeared, I have always argued that they are guilty of neglect. From the beginning, I KNEW that had I still been working and had been the duty social worker that night and received a call that 3 children under 4 were alone in an apartment, a call which turned out to be true, those 3 children would have been taken into emergency care and it would have been up to the parents to convince the magistrates that they were sufficiently fit and responsible parents to have the children returned to them. It didn't matter if the family were from some grotty council estate or the middle class suburbs. It's true that the law does not provide an age at which children can be left alone, and there are grey areas, especially when it involves a child of say 13 or 14 years of age, but for 3 children under 4 years there is absolutely NO grey area.
One of the reasons I stick at this case is because I actually feel guilty about the children I have taken into care when I have found them home alone, especially when the mum is some single teenager struggling on benefits and living in poverty who just wanted a night out with her mates. A mum who was still a kid herself and who would have been over the moon to have had one tenth the family support and material advantages of the Mccanns.
It is the sheer selfishness and injustice of this which makes me so angry and determined to keep going, and that is without thinking of little Madeleine and what might have happened to her, and why the parents and their friends and powerful allies need to lie in the way they all have.


Wel, that's me stirred up for the day and I have only just got out of bed. :Boxer:

What a very good post ....

Hi poinsky, yes, I was psychiatric social worker, (PSW), until Social Services were formed in 1971. After that I continued to specialise in mental heath but undertook training in child care and had a small number of those cases on my caseload. I ended on an emergency night unit dealing with everything before I took early retirement.

I bet this was all before you were born. I am living history !!!

justagrannynow wrote:Hi poinsky, yes, I was psychiatric social worker, (PSW), until Social Services were formed in 1971. After that I continued to specialise in mental heath but undertook training in child care and had a small number of those cases on my caseload. I ended on an emergency night unit dealing with everything before I took early retirement.

I bet this was all before you were born. I am living history !!!

I admire you....I couldnt do it....i mean actually working up close like that with children...it would kill me seeing their suffering!

justagrannynow wrote:Hi poinsky, yes, I was psychiatric social worker, (PSW), until Social Services were formed in 1971. After that I continued to specialise in mental heath but undertook training in child care and had a small number of those cases on my caseload. I ended on an emergency night unit dealing with everything before I took early retirement.

I bet this was all before you were born. I am living history !!!

Very interesting granny. Things have changed so much over the years and now there are massive changes in Children and Family services and in Mental Health due to new legislation. I may have to pick your brains about social work as it was!

I'm a final year social work degree student. I did my 2nd year placement in a voluntary homelessness agency but this year I have been placed in a statutory Children with Disabilities Team. I'm 7 months from qualifying so I'm heading for the finish line. Did you enjoy your job?

I just loved it poinsky. In fact I was a career woman working in a well known London clinic, determined to be the best. Getting married was just not part of my life,then I met my husband and the career went out the window, but I couldn't give up the job altogether. Fortunately my mother in law sold her house and came to live with us so I was able to go back to work when my youngest boy started school.
Things will have changed so much since I retired, but the need for people to look after the vulnerable is still there, so GOOD LUCK. I hope you get as much satisfaction out of your work as I did and I would enjoy chatting to you. If you need to know about the "good old days" just let me know.

justagrannynow wrote:I just loved it poinsky. In fact I was a career woman working in a well known London clinic, determined to be the best. Getting married was just not part of my life,then I met my husband and the career went out the window, but I couldn't give up the job altogether. Fortunately my mother in law sold her house and came to live with us so I was able to go back to work when my youngest boy started school.
Things will have changed so much since I retired, but the need for people to look after the vulnerable is still there, so GOOD LUCK. I hope you get as much satisfaction out of your work as I did and I would enjoy chatting to you. If you need to know about the "good old days" just let me know.

I have pm'd this reply to Poinksy, in case she missed it.

justagrannynow wrote:I just loved it poinsky. In fact I was a career woman working in a well known London clinic, determined to be the best. Getting married was just not part of my life,then I met my husband and the career went out the window, but I couldn't give up the job altogether. Fortunately my mother in law sold her house and came to live with us so I was able to go back to work when my youngest boy started school.
Things will have changed so much since I retired, but the need for people to look after the vulnerable is still there, so GOOD LUCK. I hope you get as much satisfaction out of your work as I did and I would enjoy chatting to you. If you need to know about the "good old days" just let me know.

I get great satisfaction from helping people, always have done, so decided to make a career of it! It is refreshing to see that someone who has worked in cases of child abuse and neglect is actually here hoping for justice to be served for little Madeleine. I recall suggesting that Madeleine should have never been left alone with her siblings during a lecture yet my tutors (social workers) hardly responded. I found this hard to understand because in my mind this is a case of serious neglect and should be treated as such. I realize that we don't really know what happened to Madeleine but the McCanns admitted to leaving the children alone and therefore should be dealt with accordingly.